The Story of a Lonely Wolf Chapter 28: Death Disguised as Twisted Metal and Smoke

"Toboe!" Kiba cried out as he watched the van hit Toboe then plow over the sidewalk and into the front window of the nearby building.

"What happened?" Tsume asked as he looked over and saw the blue van sitting half way through the building. The entire hood was smashed in, all the windows were broken, and it had dents and scratches all over the place.

"Get them out before the van starts on fire!" a man yelled as people ran around the streets in a frenzy.

"Oh no don't tell me…" Tsume began as he ran over to the van. Kiba was already there trying to see what happened to Toboe. "Is Toboe in there?"

"Yeah," Kiba replied as he tried to pull the van's hood out of the opening that was once the windshield. When the van hit Toboe the force of the blow sent Toboe flying and crashing through the windshield. He fell on the front seats and on the driver. Then when the van went through the window the hood was ripped off and pushed back through the windshield on top of the robber and the little wolf, trapping them inside.

"We have to hurry and get him out," Tsume said as he began pulling on the hood. His strength combined with Kiba's was enough to get the hood out. The smell of burning rubber filled both the wolves' senses. They could also smell blood. Smoke began pouring from the engine and the bottom of the van. It was so thick it choked both Tsume and Kiba. They had to step back every few minutes to get a good breath, then they would head back in and try to free Toboe from the smoking death trap.

"Call the Nobles! They'll help us!" one of the women called out. No one was sure who it was due to all the people in the road.

Not the nobles…. Tsume growled to himself as he tried to move pieces of concrete and brick off the van. When the store window was smashed in lots of the bricks at the top of the window frame had fallen down on the wreck.

"Tsume, I found him," Kiba said. Kiba was on the passenger side of the van while Tsume was on the driver's side trying to clear everything away.

"Is he alive?" Tsume asked as he rushed to Kiba's side. His eyes widened as he saw Toboe's face inside. All that was visible was the wolf's small face. The rest of his body was covered by rubble. For a moment Tsume thought this person wasn't Toboe, but the robber. It didn't look like Toboe at all. Covered with blood, dirt and with the bones in Toboe's face broken. He was unrecognizable. His sent was the only proof they had that it was Toboe.

"Toboe, can you hear me?" Kiba asked as he looked in at the wolf. Surprisingly Toboe hadn't turned back into his wolf form. He still looked like a human boy. This was a good sign. If he had died or been knocked out then his barrier would have gone down and he would look like his true self. At least they knew he wasn't dead.

"Hey, Runt, you ok?" Tsume asked as they watched Toboe, searching for any signs of reply.

"Yeah, I can hear you," Toboe replied. His eyes still closed a line of blood ran down his face.

"Try to hold on," Tsume said as he began clearing some of the rubble off Toboe's body.

"Do you know if the driver is alive?" Kiba asked Toboe. He wanted to talk to Toboe as much as he could. He wanted Toboe to stay awake and he thought having Toboe talk would help him stay awake.

"I dunno," Toboe replied. His voice soft and slurred, he was very weak and the sound of his voice proved it. Even Kiba with his keen wolf hearing could barely hear him.

"Tsume, check on him real quick," Kiba said as he began pulling some of the pieces out around Toboe's neck and chest.

"Right," Tsume replied and went back over to the driver's side, digging for the robber. After a few minutes of digging he found him. He then put his tan, dirt covered hand on the man's neck searching for a pulse. "He's dead."

"Ok," Kiba replied somewhat sadly, "Let's just concentrate on Toboe then."

"Yeah," Tsume replied as they worked.

"Don't bother," Toboe said quietly. He coughed violently as blood began to flow from his mouth and slide down his chin.

"Huh?" they both stopped to look at him for a moment.

He's got an internal injury. The wound in his lung that the vet took care of probably reopened in the accident and now blood is filling it. Either that… or the accident ripped a hole in his stomach and that's where he's bleeding from. Or even worse, it could be both. Kiba thought to himself as he saw the blood coming out of Toboe's mouth. He knew that when blood came from your mouth you had an injury on the inside.

"I already know you can't get me out. When the van hit me I fell through the window and on the seats. My right leg hit the driver and fell into his lap, but my left leg was on the floor, under the driver's legs. The majority of my body was on the floor, from the chest up was slung across the seat."

"So, it doesn't matter how far down you are. We can still dig you out," Tsume replied and began digging again.

"No," Toboe replied his voice even weaker then before. His coughing fits were draining his strength quickly. He opened his eyes to see his friends staring down at him. Concern engulfing their faces. Seeing this sort of made Toboe happy. He was glad to know Tsume really did care about him and that they were friends. "When the van went through the building the front of the van along with the engine were pushed in. The front of the inside of the van was smashed in too. It came in on the driver and me. It's pushing us two ways, against the back of the seats and pushing the lower half of our bodies against the floor. It has trapped us in here. There's no way you can get us out."

Tsume and Kiba were silent for a moment. They looked from Toboe to each other. They weren't sure what to do now.

"Did someone call the Nobles?" Kiba asked.

"I don't know? Why do you care?" Tsume asked returning to his normal tone for the moment. He started digging again. He didn't care if it didn't do any good. He had to do something. Just standing there and letting Toboe die wasn't something he was very good at.

"Well maybe the Nobles have some type of machine that can get Toboe out."

"Like what?" Tsume asked as he dug.

"I don't know," Kiba replied.

Toboe was silent for a few more minutes. Kiba was afraid he might have died. Suddenly he started coughing more violently this time.

"Kiba…." Toboe said in a sad voice. He could hardly speak without coughing.

"Yes?" Kiba asked as he looked at Toboe. He studied the small wolf's face carefully.

"Kiba," Toboe struggled to say again. "My chest feels so heavy and the smoke. I can't breathe," a few tears fell down the young wolf's face. The pain in his body and the burning pain in his throat were getting to him. He wouldn't last much longer.

Just then the Nobles arrived on the seen. A few men in black uniforms jumped from the big black tank-like vehicle and ran to the van. They looked in and saw the robber was dead and Toboe was trapped inside.

"We have to get him out fast. He said he can't breathe," Kiba informed the men.

One of the men nodded telling Kiba he understood. Then he ran back to the black vehicle and radioed from a special machine that could free Toboe while the other men and Tsume tried to clear more of the concrete. It would be a lot more comfortable for Toboe if he wasn't covered with bricks. Also, it would make the rescue mission a lot easier if it was all cleared away and they could see what they were doing clearly. Sadly there was nothing they could do about the smoke. The Nobles had special gas masks so the smoke didn't bother them. Toboe, Tsume, and Kiba however, didn't have these special masks so they just had to suffer through it.